$8,000 in rent for the summer will get your a “great spot opposite WONDER WHEEL. Very busy location. Rent includes all utilities. Perfect for game or novelties. Rent payable in 3 installments. Season ends Sept. 30th.”–Craigslist

It will be sunny today with a predicted high of 47 and skies shifting to party cloudy as the day goes on in advance of some precipitation. It will feel like 50. Tonight, look for increasing clouds with “a bit of snow toward dawn.” The low will be 33. Tomorrow will be breezy with rain and a high of 43.–Accuweather

It definitely looks like, having cleared amusements and tenants from their Coney Island land in 2007, developer Joe Sitt and Thor Equities are looking to generate some revenue from it in 2008. Whether this turns out to be good news for Coney Island remains to be seen–it depends on how successful Thor is and what they place on the property. Regardless, the tireless Coney Island Message Board member known as Capt. Nemo, who’s constantly roaming Coney with his camera and conveying interesting news, noticed that more Sitt signs have gone up for stands and flea markets for the, uh, “208” season. (Other signs have already gone up, Capt. Nemo has noted.) This indicates two things: (1.) Less possible Sitt-created vacancy this year and (2.) Someone in Thor’s leasing office should proofread the signs before putting the order through. It’s unclear how popular “flea markets” on the land where Mr. Sitt demolished attractions will be, although the full plans (or lack thereof) for the land should become clear soon.

We don’t know what was up on the L Train on Thursday, but clearly something was in the air. In looking for our weekly Sunday Brooklyn Craigslist Missed Connection, we found these two posts that were made with the same 24-hour time span:

Twilight zone serenade on the L train Thurs Eve – w4m – 30
I first noticed you when we were both waiting for the train at Union Sq. I was the blonde with far too many bags and I think you had something yellow on. We made eye contact accidentally but when I saw your eyes, I thought you were stunning. Stupidly I panicked and adopted the hipster code of feigned indifference.

When the Brooklyn bound train arrived, we entered doors at opposite ends of the train but somehow met in the middle. I managed to get a seat by the pole and you stood in front of me. We both had books. Mine was the Subtle Knife part of a young adult Sci-fi series and yours was some serious looking fiction. I was too embarrassed to really look because you were inches away from me. Suddenly the train was full of sounds from the street musician. The mood changed…Miles Davis, twilight zone, then space talk. It was all very entertaining but not enough to distract me from your presence. I got off at Lorimer. You took my seat. Too bad I’m a shy girl. I didn’t say a word. Hope to see you again.

And, then, there’s this one:

L train 12:30 reading Your Brain is God–timothy leary! – w4m – 30
well, sure, you were cute–and the soul patch works, though i’m not sure flavor saver is appropriate so soon, though that would be just like me.

what i really want to share with you is that you seem like the perfect person to recommend one of the greatest kids’ books to. have you ever read how to be a perfect person in three days? google has the book online, incidentally. my copy had a purple cover with a boy proudly touting a head of broccoli…and the cover of your book reminded me so much of it without being an ounce like it: it must deliver more perfection than perfection itself.

so, after all this babbling, if you’re interested in getting to know the blonde (hah!) who wanted desperately to strike up that conversation but didn’t have the confidence in her voice…get into my head. my brain is, after all, god–like you said.

Every week, we like to take a look at comments left during the previous seven days and highlight a few. Here are this week’s selections:

Carroll Gardens News: Monteleone’s Up for Sale. “The true Monteleone’s died back in 2006 when they shuttered it for renovation. That place was a gem, and the people who worked there were great. When it reopened all the charm was gone, from the place and the people. The service was surly and terrible, and the clientele, who seemed to drive in from Goombaland, used to stare at the local residents like they had two heads.” [Anonymous]

Carroll Gardens News: Monteleone’s Up for Sale. “Yes Carroll Gardens is most certainly dead. It will soon look very very very bland. I heard even Carroll Park is up for sale too. They want to put like 2000 new units on it linked to the Toll Brothers development on Bond Street with a skyway. This would give CG a kind of Minneapolis feel and keep all those thousands of new residents off the street where they won’t fit anyhow. Nobody will need the subway.” [Anonymous]

Another Building Going Up on N. 10 Street. “What are the japanese tourists going to do not being able to take pictures of those hearts?” [Anonymous]

The Great Park Slope Hating Debate, Part 134. “People hate on Park Slope because that’s what people do. Hate on stuff. Where’s the fun in espousing the positive of something or of some place? Hating makes for good reading. Just look at Joyce or Bukowski. It’s not just Park Slope either. People hate on every single neighborhood in this city. People hate no matter what city they are in. This is not news. You have to admit that reading all the hate is just as much fun if not more than reading the police blotter.” [Bryan]

New “Movement” Developing in Gowanus & Carroll Gardens? “Once again, NIMBY central on The Gowanus Lounge. Out of curiosity, has there *ever* been a new development profiled on this site with anything other than outright horror? God forbid anyone builds any additional housing in this city – good thing there isn’t, you know, a housing shortage.” [Anonymous]

Here’s a very short Brookvid of snow falling on Sunday morning around Prospect Park.

Forget redoing the new lighting at the Parachute Jump or returning it to use as a ride. It’s already a favorite spot for peregrine falcons. “The unused steel tower is a favorite perch for the local peregrines…it was during my first or second game that I discovered the raptor’s choice perch. Our seats were along the first base line, in line with the tower. I noticed one, then two, then several feathers fluttering passed. The source was from the top of the tower. A Peregrine Falcon had just caught a pigeon and was plucking it from its perch on the parachute ride. It was a nice diversion during a slow inning.”–The City Birder

Here are some vids of the Great Snow Storm of 2008 as seen in Brooklyn and posted to YouTube:

Earlier in the week, we noted the big book sale at Park Slope United Methodist Church this weekend, but we got another email from them about tomorrow’s continuation of the sale, so why not? Here’s what they have to say:

We had so many books this year that we were only able to put a fraction of them out on Saturday morning and thus we were re-stocking the tables with fresh books all day. So, if you came on Saturday, we invite you to return on Sunday for more book browsing and buying. And if you didn’t make it today, please know that there are lots & lots of good books to be found — all the tables in every category are completely filled to capacity (and, in fact, there are still more books to be put on the tables on Sunday!).

And there are still hundreds of videos, and some nice CDs & DVDs. And records too! The Sunday sale begins at 1:00pm, following our morning worship service and regular Sunday programs. We ask that book shoppers not come to the church before 1:00.

Sale hours are 1PM-4PM. Park Slope United Methodist Church is located on Sixth Avenue at Eighth Street.

• Meet Agate Court in Bed-Stuy [NYT]
• Fields Fine Wine and Spirits Moves on in Windsor Terrace [DITHOB]
• Memoirs at Brooklyn Reading Works [OTBKB]
• Memorializing Spot [Flatbush Gardener]
• Live in Park Slope, Commute to Long Island [NYT]
• Coney Defends Democracy During WWII [Kinetic Carnival]
• No Mikva, No Tikva [Fading Ad Blog]
• 25 Days to Spring [Right in Bay Ridge]
• Dumbo Weekly Links [Dumbo NYC]
• Snow Day in Carroll Gardens [Z. Madison]
• The Snowmen of Greenpoint [New York Shitty]
• Excellent Commute Through Snow and Park [Ditmas Park Blog]

This isn’t so much a video as a collection of still shots–many of them quite lovely–of Coney Island set to a favorite Coney song, Death Cab for Cutie’s “Coney Island.”

The Prospect Park Zoo now has a rare red panda, who is an immigrant from a zoo in Michigan. Mao Mi move to Brooklyn as part of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s breeding program. “Red pandas are endangered, and Mao Mi is part of a Wildlife Conservation Society breeding program that’s trying to ensure the survival of threatened or endangered species. Mao Mi has black legs, a furry, reddish-brown face and body and white ears. Prospect Park zookeepers said their cuddly cutie is very playful and loves to climb trees and explore his new home.”–AP/NYDN

We’ve run several of the gorgeous snow shots sent to us by sculptor, artist and photographer Gary Mirabelle since Friday. This is the last of them. It was shot in Windsor Terrace, and it is just as beautiful as the others.

Sunny today with a high of 41. It will feel like 43. Clear with a low of 30 tonight. Sunset is 5:41PM. Tomorrow will be sunny to partly cloudy with a high of 48. Rain and snow late on Monday night, with rain on Tuesday and temperature in the 40s.–Accuweather

A bunch of cool Coney photos, many of which look like they were shot from a cherry picker on the boardwalk on a foggy day, are finally online along with a short essay on Coney Island. A sample: “Like most oceanfront real estate, Coney Island has forever attracted self-anointed improvers with all manner of motives. It has withstood high-minded attempts at preservation and low-minded development big-footing by the likes of Robert Moses, Fred Trump, and Rudy Giuliani. A succession of promoters have blended right in with the three-card-monte sharps, hawking casinos, luxury hotels and condos, office buildings, mall-enclosed indoor amusement parks, the inevitable inflatable giant water slide, and whatever ‘revitalization’ fantasies Michael Bloomberg entertained while trying to seduce the International Olympic Committee.” The photos offer perspectives one doesn’t often see.–New Yorker

The award for some of the most depressing local news we saw yesterday comes courtesy of Lost City, which came across a sale listing for Monteleone’s on Court Street. Fans of cannoli, cheesecake and little pastries might remember that the bakery only reopened last year after much mystery and drama. Now it’s up for sale. A listing on AwayeRealty has it on the market for $550,000, proclaiming:

FANTASTIC OPPORTUNITY TO OWN A PIECE OF BROOKLYN’S HISTORY!!! In the Heart of Carroll Gardens, a Well-Established Pastry Shop is Up For Grabs! Fully Equipped with Evereything Included! This Beautiful Shop is Located On a High Traffic Street Close to Schools, Neighborhood Thoroughfares, and Carroll Park. $15K Gross Income Per Week

Oh well.

NYPD Was On The Scene Too., originally uploaded by woodendesigner.

Anyone that was out last night on Smith Street near Atlantic Avenue (and certainly anyone that was there when it happened) probably noticed a huge commotion. It was the aftermath of a police chase that started in Newark, crossed New Jersey into Manhattan, and ended with a crash at Smith Street and Pacific. The chase started in Newark around 6PM when the police stopped a man driving a “dark sedan,” according to the Daily News. The driver closed a window on a cop’s hand, leading him to drop his gun into the car (which may or may not have fired, depending on the report. The driver put the car in reverse, hit another cop and took off. The police opened fire, shooting him in the hand. A chase ensued, through the Holland Tunnel, over the Manhattan Bridge before finally ending at Smith and Pacific when the vehicle went the wrong way down Smith, hit a van head on and was rear ended by Newark Police car. An email on the Boerum Hill Group had this to say about the aftermath:

Walking home this evening, I witnessed MAJOR police activity on Smith & Pacific. The whole area was cordoned off to pedestrians and vehicles. There were numerous Newark NJ police cars and NJ Highway patrol cars, in addition to NYPD.

Fortunately there were no major injuries.

Related Articles:

• NJ-Bklyn Rush Hour Cop Chase [NYP]
• A Police Chase from Newark to Brooklyn [NYT]
• Newark police chase ends in Brooklyn [NYDN]

This is a photo of snow on the Gowanus from photographer Joe Holmes that we found while looking at snow pics on flickr. It’s a great pic, but what’s even more s interesting about it, though, is what is in the description. Mr. Holmes, whose photoblog Joe’s NYC is very highly regarded, writes: “…taken seconds before I was told that photography is prohibited on the 9th Street bridge because of 9-11 concerns. Those crafty terrorists — blow up the 9th St bridge, and they’ll bring this country to its knees.” We have taken thousands of pics from all the bridges over the Gowanus and haven’t realized we were endangering national security. Thank God he wasn’t taking photos of the Atlantic Yards site.

Here’s this week’s adoptable pet of the week. We’re going to be featuring animals available for adoption at the Sean Casey Animal Rescue shelter in Kensington either every week or something close to that. If we help one kind soul hook up with one dog, cat or other creature in need of a home, we’ll be quite content.

This is Adriana. She’s a two-year-old Husky/German Shepard mix described as having “a feisty spirit.” Here’s a bit more about her:

She was left with a litter of puppies to fend for herself when found. She is an active curious girl with a big mischievous smile. She is affectionate and great with kids.

There’s more info about her here on her Petfinder profile. Clearly, any potential adopter has to decide if a particularly creature in need of a home is right for their living situation, needs and their ability to provide the proper level of care and attention. Sean Casey Animal Rescue is located at 155 East 3rd Street in Kensington. They have a lot of different pets in need. Their number is 718.436.5163.